Shoe



Oct. 3, 1961 H. M. GOLDBERG SHOE Filed sept. 24, 1959 IN V EN TOR.Hok/Afa /7. 604036.96

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3,002,296 SHOE Howard M. Goldberg, 1348 Grand Concourse,

Bronx, N.Y. Filed Sept. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 842,089 1 Claim. (Cl.Sti-2.5)

This invention relates to a shoe.

It is particularly desirable for the toes of a human foot to assume aflat position, i.e., parallel to the ground, when a presons weight isplaced onV the foot. This tends' to maintain a normal foot in goodcondition and to aid in correcting orthopedic defects. However, aconventional shoe, due to its manner of construction, inhibits thedesirable flat stance of a foot. When a shoe is lasted, the outsole isplaced on the upturned curved bottom of the last and thereafter theflexible but inelastic upper is secured thereto, the upperconventionally being stretched tightly across the top of the last sothat in the finished shoe, the outsole curves upwardly in the toeregion, i.e., the front of the shoe. Due to this method of manufacture,as a human foot assumes weight, it must, before the toes will take on aflat position, stretch the upper in order to force the toe of the shoedownwardly against the ground. This resistance to the assumption of aflat stance is an unnatural restirction on the foot, tending to causeorthopedic defects and preventing orthopedic defects from beingremedied.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a shoe which avoidsthe foregoing dificulty.

More particularly, it is an object of my invention to provide a shoewhich minimizes the resistance offered to the assumption of a flatstance by a human foot when wheight is placed thereon.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a shoe of thecharacter described which is only slightly modified from a conventionalshoe, this modification being such that it can be made at but a slightadditional cost on conventional lasts.

It is another object of my invention to provide a shoe of the characterdescribed which lends itself to everyday methods of shoe manufacture onstandard shoe making machines.

It is another object of my invention to provide a shoe of the characterdescribed in which the modification pursuant to my invention does notmake the shoe unsightly or ungainly.

It is another object of my inventon to provide a shoe of the characterdescribed in which the modification is not apparent, seeming to bemerely a variation in the shoe design.

It is another object of my invention to provide a shoe of the characterdescribed which permits the wearers toes to flex up and down withcomparative freedom.

It is another object of my invention to provide a shoe of the characterdescribed which can be made in standard sizes, shapes and styles so thatexpensive molding and casting of individual orthopedic appliances can beeliminated.

It is another object of my invention to provide a shoe of the characterdescribed which is simple and inexpensive to make, is durable inconstruction, constitutes relatively few additional parts, and is,withal, attractive.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part willbe pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will beexemplified in the shoe hereinafter described and of which the scope ofapplication will be indicated in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the variouspossible embodiments of my invention,

nited States arent Patented Oct. 3, 1961 FIG. 1 is a front perspectiveview of a shoe made in accordance with my invention, the toe box beingcut away to better see the modification which constitutes my invention;and

FIG. 2 is a side view of said shoe.

Although my invention can be embodied in any conventonal shoeconstruction, I have, -by way of example, shown the same as incorporatedin a McKay welt shoe 10. Said shoe includes an upper l2 and lining 14for said upper. The upper is made of the regular sheet material, e.g.,leather or fabric, that is flexible but inelastic, that is to say,unyielding. The shoe further includes an outsole 16, a midsole 18, afiller 20 and an insole 22, all of conventional construction. Thevarious parts of the shoe are secured to one another in the usual manneras by last tacks 24which fasten the inturned edges of the upper to theinsole, a McKay seam 26 uniting the insole and upper to the midsole, anda lock-stitch 28v connecting the outsole to the midsole. It will beapprecated that up to this point I have described nothing other Vthan aconventional McKay welt shoe.

My invention consists in so modifyingl the upper 12 andy the lining 14,which forms a part thereof, that from the tip of the toe of the shoeback to the region of the cuboid 30of a human foot in the shoe, theupper is able to experience movement in a vertical direction relative tothe sole, the latter jointly including the outsole, insole, midsole andfiller. In a conventional shoe, no such relative movement can takeplace. However, in a shoe embodying the present invention, such movementis perrnitted by virtue of a suitable horizontal split in the upperstarting at one side of the shoe in the reigon of the cuboid, runningforwardly to and around the tip of the shoe and then back toapproximately the same region on the opposite side of the shoe. Thissplit can be fashioned by actually forming such a slit in the materialof the upper itself or by leaving a space between the lower edge of theupper and the sole. It further will be appreciated that when the upperactually is physically split, that is to say constitutes anon-resilient, i.e., non-stretchable, part attached to the sole, and asimilar part overlying the foot, the horizontal split should be locatedin the side wall of the upper, i.e., the vertical side part of the uppernear, e.g., within about one-half inch, of the welt 32.

Moreover, my invention embraces the utilization at the split of anelongated member, e.g., a strip, that is resilient in at least adirection transverse of its length (vertical when the strip is in place)and that bridges the space between the edges of the split. This memberserves multiple purposes, e.g., it prevents the upper from flappingloosely, maintains a pleasing appearance, ensures a proper fit andoffers a slight resistance to flexion of the forepart of the wearersfoot.

In the form of my invention specifically shown in FG. l, it will beobserved that the lower edge of the upper from approximately the regionof the cuboid -bone forwardly on both sides of the shoe is spaced abovethe welt. I have used the term upper at this part of the specificationto refer to the material which is conventionally used in a shoe, e.g.,the leather or fabric, although in the earlier portion of thisspecification I have used the term upper in a different sense to includeboth such material and the resilient strip. From this point forwardly,the term nonyieldable portion of the upper will refer to that part ofthe upper which is made of conventional material, e.g., leather orfabric; the term yieldable portion of the upper will refer to theresilient strip, and the term upper will refer tothe combination of thetwo.

Secured to the lower edge zone of the non-yieldable portion of the upperis a strip 34 of resilient material constituting the yieldable portionof the upper. Said strip is narrow and elongated. It runs along bothsides. of the shoe and around the tip, extending from the region of thecuboid bone at one side of the shoe to the region of the cuboid at theother side of the shoe and bridges the slit between the sole and thelower edge zone of the non-yieldable portion of the upper. Suitablemeans is used to secure these two portions of the upper to one another.Although cement may be employed for this purpose, I prefer to connectsaid two portions to one another with a line of stitching 36 thatextends through the non-yieldable portion of the upper, the yieldableportion of the upper and the lining 14, in turn, the upper edge zone ofsaid yieldable portion of the upper, i.e., the strip, being sandwichedbetween the lining and the nonyieldable portion of the upper. The stripthus in effect constitutes the lower part of the upper, and the loweredgezone of said strip is secured to the insole by the tacks 24 and tothe midsole by the McKay seam 26. Thereby this strip resiliently holdsthe non-yieldable portion of the upper to the sole of the shoe, and yet,at the same time, permits relative vertical movement between the two.The material of the strip is elastic transversely, i.e., vertically,preferably being fabricated from cloth woven or knitted with elasticthreads such as the usual stretch material found in ladies" foundationgarments, i.e., power mesh.

If desired, I also may employ a decorative strip 38 to conceal the rawlower edge of the non-yieldable portion of the upper, said decorativestrip being held in place by the line of stitching 36 and by anadditional line of stitching 40 below the stitching 36.

I have found that the presence of the resilient elastic strip at a slitin the otherwise inelastic upper, which slit extends deeply into thesides of the upper and around the tip of the shoe and is located in asubstantially horizontal plane permits the sole readily to be forced toa suitably flat position from the base of the metatarsals forwardly,whereby the metatarsal and phalangeal bones of the human foot in theshoe take on a flat stance when the foot assumes weight; the resistanceotfered by the upper to such straightening of the sole is comparativelyslight and indeed is somewhat beneficial in that it affords exercise byslight resistance to flexing of the foot.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a shoe which accomplishes theseveral objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet theconditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and as various' changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth,it is to be understood that all matter described herein or shown in theaccompanying dawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

A shoe having a flexible inelastic upper, a sole to which the upper issecured, and a horizontally elongated strip of flexible verticallyelastic material extending between the sole and the upper from the shankarea of one side of the shoe to the shank area of the other side of theshoe.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,249,702 Wiegand et al Dec. 11, 1917 1,583,096 Pierce et al. May 14,1926 1,753,872 Steed Apr. 8, 1930 2,313,902 Turner Mar. 16, 19432,473,605 Orlando June 21, 1949 2,481,389 Campagna Sept. 6, 19492,815,589 Sears Dec. 10, 1957

